My significant other of five years has NSCLC stageIIb

[rinksgal]

My boyfriend was diagnosed with nsclc T2NOMO in May which was in his right upperlobe and was removed May 20, 2003. They found his 4.5 cm tumor on a lung xray. His family doctor was looking for something causing his fever and night sweats. Its a long story but in the end they found a mass in his rt. upper lobe. It was surgurically removed and the biopsy report showed his nodes to be clear. He has adenocarcinoma, poorly differentiated. We went to two different oncologist to get a 2nd opinion. they both suggested doing nothing at this time. He's get to get more catscans done in August. Well since this time he has started running fevers again and the night and days sweats have returned. There was no sign of this 2 days following surgery up until 8 days ago. We called one of the oncologist we had seened, being he suggested that anytime anything comes up we are gonna panic and to just call him and he would look into it and try to put our mind at ease. Well my boyfriend called and talked to a nurse and she told him quote unquote "Well its just a little bitty fever and cancer and a tumor growing doesn't cause fever" He explained to her that was his only symptom, but he ended up hanging up being disgusted. We ended up calling his family doctor and he said well it is a symptom of cancer with you, and he has set us up for a pet scan July 10. Has anyone else had this and what is it? and has anyone else had bad experiences with this. I mean we feel helpless and the doctors make you feel stupid, I told one of the nurses so whats a symptom? if hes throwing up blood? I told her we don't want to wait till things are that bad. I also told her I didn't appreciate my boyfriend being made to feel stupid. I just thought they would want to know, so I don't get it? What if it was a member of their family?

I also would like to know if anyone else had this paticular stage and what was your outcome. and did you do treatment or not. I also know it can spread through the blood stream without ever getting into the nodes, has anyone else had this happen?

The thing is he was just starting to feel better when his fever returned and now hes back to sleeping all the time. Because he doesn't feel good. I'm so scared of losing him and I want things to be caught early, I mean we don't want to be paranoid but with the fever returning how are we suppose to feel. Thats the only reason they found his cancer at the stage it was in.

[JudyB]

Hi ther rinksgal,

I also had night sweats and that's the reason my LC was caught at a relatively early stage. But I've had chemo, radiation, surgery, and 2 more chemos, and guess what? I still have night sweats. But, then, so does my husband and his chest xray was fine. He blames it on our mattress (a TempurPedic) and our previous air mattress. I don't hear about that symptom w/LC and my onc. just pooh-poohs it.

I've thought of writing a book titled "It's Not about the Bed."

[Tiny]

Rinksgal-

I am a similar stage to your boyfriend. Although my tumour was smaller, I had lymph-node involvement in two nodes (T1N1M0), and I have chills and sweats, but no fever. In my case, they blame it on menopause, but I worry about it just the same . In his case, I would certainly continue to pursue it, especially as he is experiencing fatigue. Try to drop the simplistic, unconcerned medical personnel out of your thoughts, and turn your energies to accessing others, such as his regular doctor, who will help you track this down and put your mind at ease or start you on a path of treatment. I pray it turns out to be insignificant, but you deserve answers.

[john]

http://www.asco.org/ac/1,1003,_12-00249 ... ung+Cancer